Valley Fever is so common in Arizona that it’s common knowledge you should just expect to get if you live in the Valley of the Sun. What many people don’t know is that pets are also very susceptible to the disease. It's frustrating enough that we even classify it as one of the Top 10 "Un"Wanted Pests in Arizona.

Valley Fever is caused by a fungus that lives in the desert soil. The fungus grows in the sandy soil and matures, drying into fragile strands of cells. When dogs disturb the strands, by walking, digging, or a monsoon storm blows through, the strands break away to be easily inhaled by everyone. They then settle into the chest, spreading infection to lungs. The entire process can focus on the inhalation of one spore or thousands of spores.

A year ago, when computer programmer Brad Kantor’s eight-year-old golden retriever, Goldy, began limping after their long morning walks, Kantor, who lives in Wayne, N.J., figured his once-lively pup was simply getting older. When Goldy began dragging his back leg as he walked, though, his owner suspected there was something more going on than just the normal aging process. “I took him to the vet,” remembers Kantor. “She watched him walk and then felt around his bad knee. She suspected he would need surgery.”

Goldy is not alone. Each year, more than one million dogs develop hind leg problems due to what, as it turned out, Kantor’s dog had: a debilitating knee condition called a cranial cruciate ligament (or CCL) deficiency. While surgery is a painful fix, a new, less invasive procedure is making the operation easier on pooches. Below, Dr. James Cook, the University of Missouri-based veterinarian and orthopedic researcher who developed the procedure, explains the injury and his innovative solution.